COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The leader of New Life Church in Colorado Springs knew that a pastor at his previous church in Texas sexually abused a child, according to court documents.
The documents also allege that leadership at New Life hired Boyd as senior pastor despite knowing he was among those who were informed of the abuse.
New Life is one of the largest churches in Colorado Springs.
Boyd denies knowing anything about the abuse and is not accused of any crimes in the court documents. However, a motion filed in a Texas lawsuit specifies that Boyd knew a fellow pastor at his last church had sexually abused a “young woman” several decades ago.
During Sunday service on June 8, Boyd told some 15,000 New Life Church congregants and 1,700 viewers online about who he calls his former mentor, Robert Morris.
"I was deceived. I was lied to," Boyd told his congregation.
He says Morris hired him to help build Gateway Church in Dallas-Fort Worth where Boyd became associate senior pastor and a church elder. Seven years later, Boyd was hired as senior pastor at New Life.
"I worked alongside him. I had no reason to believe he had any kind of character issues. He did confide in me he'd had a moral failure when he was 20 years old. That's really all the details he shared," said Boyd at the service.
But there was more to the story. Last summer, Morris was indicted on five felony counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child in Oklahoma where the victim, Cindy Clemishire lived.
According to charging documents, the alleged four years of abuse began in 1982 when Clemishire was between 12 and 16 years old. Morris was in his 20s. He’s now 63.
Last year, some 43 years after the initial abuse allegedly occurred, the senior pastor at Gateway Church lost his job shortly after charges were filed.
Now, a year later, Morris has filed to get the retirement benefits he says he was promised. Morris is demanding $1 millon upfront and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year until he and his wife pass.
In May, Gateway filed an appeal in Tarrant County, Texas, after its attorneys say Morris broke the terms of his contract by skipping the agreed-upon step of mediation before taking a dispute to the courts.
Morris filed a subsequent motion, and in it, he spells out when and where he told the church elders about his actions with Clemishire.
But, Gateway leaders argue in their filing that Morris, ”withheld critical information and strategically mischaracterized his misconduct, falsely describing his sexual abuse of a child as merely an 'inappropriate relationship with a young woman.'"
Morris responded, “Gateway ... seeks to rewrite history in alleging Gateway elders didn't know about the relationship or its extent until 2024. Actually, the documents prove they knew by 2005, if not earlier."
Boyd became an elder at Gateway Church five years earlier in 2000. So, according to the timeline spelled out in the affidavit, he would have been made aware of the abuse. But Boyd told his church during the June 8 service that he first learned about it when charges were filed last year.
“It was shocking," said Boyd. "It was mind-numbing. It was awful. It was evil. He admitted to a four-year relationship when he was 20 and the girl, Cindy Clemishire, was 12 years old ... I didn't know that. Very few people knew that.”
In an effort to get his retirement benefits, Morris spells out in an affidavit related to the lawsuit against Gateway how and when he admitted the abuse to church elders, in an attempt to prove they knew years before he was charged.
The affidavit says in both 2005 and 2007, Morris spoke with the elders about his sexual abuse of Clemishire.
Halfway through 2007, New Life leaders were vetting Boyd for the job of senior pastor, and Clemishire's sister alerted the hiring committee Boyd knew about her abuse.
"They found out. They heard in an interview with a family member that Cindy was 12 years old. And they immediately called the elders at Gateway Church and told them. And the elders of Gateway Church said, 'We're aware of that. It has been handled. Her family, her pastor, has given Robert a thumbs up. They've gone through a process of restoration and there's nothing left to do. It has already been reported.' But the search committee never told me," said Boyd.
But Boyd was among the elders at Gateway in 2005 when, according to court documents, Morris told them what he did.
Another indication Boyd knew of the abuse was through a letter the court motion says another Gateway elder sent him.
The motion says after hearing about the victim’s sister’s accusations from New Life leaders, the leadership at Gateway Church convened an "elder meeting on August 28, 2007 and discussed past events involving Morris and CC (Cindy Clemishire)."
In the footnotes of the motion, it says that Boyd was not at the meeting, but he was sent a letter detailing what was discussed. The letter did not say Clemishire was only 12 years old. Boyd has not acknowledged he received that letter.
During the service on June 8, days after this information came out in court filings, Boyd told his church that he regrets making Morris a spiritual overseer of New Life when he was first hired.
"I just want to say I'm so sorry. First of all, I didn't know. But I would never, ever put a known pedophile in a place of authority in this church," said Boyd.
New Life Church's website shows that Boyd also brought in Morris as a guest speaker and wrote about him as "one of his closest friends" in his church blog in November, 2010.
As far as New Life's hiring committee's decision not to report the alleged abuse, in a statement the church says the following:
"After being assured that the abuse had been reported years earlier and that the Morris and Clemishire families had resolved the matter, the committee was confident that those in authority had taken the appropriate steps both legally and spiritually and felt free to move ahead with their pastor search."
It has been 43 years since the alleged abuse happened, and 20 years since Morris says he first reported his actions to church elders. Now, Pastor Boyd says he wants justice.
"I want him brought to justice. He's admitted to this. I pray for absolute justice and healing for the Clemishire family. I have nothing but compassion for her ... We've got to do everything we can to protect our children. Period.
Morris is next in court in Oklahoma in September.
You can read the court documents below, or by clicking here:
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